Human Services Psychology, UMBC Jessel et al. (2015) provided some evidence to suggest that "other" behavior is strengthened in the differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO). The present study is a systematic replication of the Jessel et al. procedures. The effects of DRO and extinction on target responding, target-other responding (a response with an established history of reinforcement), and nontarget-other responding emitted by children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and children with no known diagnoses were compared. Other behavior increased in at least one DRO condition for each participant, suggesting that other behavior increases when using DRO, at least initially. Under extinction, target responding and target-other responding decreased to low rates for three of the five participants; however, rates of nontarget-other responding were elevated compared to the DRO condition. These results suggest that increased rates of targetother responding and nontarget-other responding during the DRO condition may be a result of extinction-induced variability.

Child development involves systematic changes across physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains throughout the lifespan. Research on development has been instrumental in the advancement of screening and assessment tools; programs for prevention, education, and intervention; and public health initiatives. Basic and applied behavior‐analytic research has led to many advances in understanding the development of children across the lifespan, primarily by focusing on the laws or principles of behavior. Researchers who apply scientific methodology when conducting basic behavior‐analytic research engage in the study and identification of behavioral processes and principles that influence learning (i.e., skill acquisition). Human subject research has produced socially significant findings; however, as history has revealed, human subject research has also produced troubling ethical predicaments, violating basic human rights and putting subjects at physical and psychological risk. Ethical principles have shaped current research practices and provide a basis from which current ethical codes are derived. It is the duty of research organizations to create ethical codes of conduct applicable to their missions. Researchers have an obligation to not only develop but also adhere to current standards for ethical research. Furthermore, researchers are obligated to effectively teach ethical research to others, so as to increase compliance with ethical standards and protect human subjects.

The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic replication of Fiske et al. (2015) to extend the behavior‐analytic literature on token reinforcement. Specifically, the researchers addressed several of the limitations of Fiske et al. by including specific conditioning procedures, creating a controlled history of reinforcement with the token system, including participants with and without disabilities to extend the generality of the findings, and equating the magnitude of reinforcement across the primary and paired‐token conditions. The current study evaluated the reinforcing value of tokens by using progressive‐ratio schedules to compare the efficacy of primary reinforcement, paired tokens, and unpaired tokens. The results suggest that paired tokens may function as reinforcers, but they were not as consistently effective as primary reinforcers.